Vegetarian Cincinnati Chili

I really like Cincinnati chili and have for a long time, ever since I lived in Indianapolis about 7 years ago.  The sweet spiced chili is perfect on spaghetti.  My wife, however, doesn't eat meat, so I can't cook traditional Cincinnati chili with ground beef.  A couple of years back I found a vegan recipe that I have cooked a couple of times with lentils (ohmyveggies.com).  It's rather good and I was initially surprised, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that meat is actually not that big of a flavor component of  Cincinnati chili.  In my experiments in the past, I discovered that if you use beef broth, the chili comes out way too meaty tasting, too heavy.  Basically, you get umami overload.  Texas chili needs this, but Cincinnati chili not.  Cincy chili is much more focused on the spices, the cocoa, cinnamon, and clove in particular.  So vegetarian chili is quite possible.

The recipe I used was good, but not quite right.  It was too sweet and, while Cincy chili doesn't have a lot of umami, it still needs some and this chili was very low on umami.  So how do I address this?

First, sweetness.  Something I learned from experiments in the past is that Cincy chili doesn't need any onions.  Onions go on top raw, but not in the chili.  Onions are actually quite sweet and I think they were throwing off the flavor.  I eliminated them, added some garlic, and increased the lentils to compensate.  I also switch from apple cider vinegar to white vinegar.

Second, how to get umami.  Looking at a lot of Cincy chili recipes, they often used Worchestershire sauce.  Great source of umami.  I have some, but I thought I would switch things up and use Pickapeppa sauce, a Jamaican sauce that is similar.  I used a full tablespoon.  Initially it was a bit too much, but after cooking, everything seemed to blend together.  Soy sauce could also work here.

I am sure the character of your veggie broth will affect the chili.  I used my homemade, which I make from kitchen scraps (mostly onions, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger, with an occasional leak).

If you want it more Skyline-like, I would cut the Worchestershire sauce to 1/2 Tbsp and double the cinnamon and perhaps increase the cloves.

Vinegar is added in the end because acid inhibits the cooking of the lentils.  When I used to add it from the beginning, the lentils never really softened.

Vegetarian Cincinnati Chili

1 Tbsp Worchester sauce, Pickapeppa sauce, or soy sauce
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 bay leaf
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp white vinegar
4 cups veggie broth
8 oz tomato sauce
1 lb lentils, rinsed
1/2 Tbsp salt


1) Add everything except the vinegar to a pot.
2) Bring to a boil and simmer about 30 minutes covered, until the lentils are firm-tender.
3) Add vinegar.
4) Serve over pasta 3 way, 4 way, 5 way, or whatever way.